-50% of Westchester Supports Him, While 50% of Westchester Wants Him Out of Congress Next Year
This week, we talk about SALT. Next week Medicaid –Latimer votes NO
On May 22 the House of Representatives voted 215-214 to pass HR 1, which approves a Federal Budget for 2025, keeps the Trump tax cuts from 2017 in place, and for Westchester homeowners, raises the cap on the amount of State and Local Taxes, SALT, that you can deduct from your Federal Income Tax from $10,000 to $40,000.
Three Republican House members, Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Warren Davidson, voted no and House Freedom Caucus chairman Andy Harris of Maryland, did not vote yes.
Westchester Congressman Mike Lawler voted yes, as his vote was needed for final approval. After the vote, Rep. Lawler outlined key wins for the Hudson Valley in the new tax package, H.R. 1, that passed the House of Representatives early this morning.
“This tax package extends key 2017 tax cuts, puts more money back in the pockets of hardworking New Yorkers, and supports small businesses. While no legislation is without compromise, this bill makes meaningful strides toward a fairer tax system,” said Congressman Lawler. “We must build lasting consensus along party lines and across the aisle to achieve progress.”
The following list of key wins for the people of the Hudson Valley includes:
Quadrupling the SALT Deduction
- Raises the cap from $10,000 to $40,000 for the next decade, with annual increases.
- Provides immediate relief to middle-class families in Rockland and Westchester, two of the highest property tax counties in America.
- 93% of Middle-Class families in the Hudson Valley making below $300,000 will be able to fully deduct their State and Local Taxes
Protecting and Strengthening Medicaid
- Implements work requirements and eligibility verification to eliminate fraud and preserve Medicaid for those who truly need it: seniors, single parents, and individuals with disabilities.
- Blocks taxpayer-funded Medicaid benefits for illegal immigrants.
No Taxes on Tips or Overtime
- Eliminates federal taxes on tip income and overtime pay—directly helping restaurant workers, first responders, and other hourly employees.
Making Healthcare More Affordable
- Delays harmful DSH cuts, preserving safety net hospitals in the Hudson Valley.
- Increases physician reimbursements and reduces prescription drug costs by cracking down on pharmacy benefit manager abuses.
- Eases access to out-of-state pediatric care for sick children on Medicaid and CHIP.
Preventing Middle-Class Tax Hikes
- Preserves key provisions from the Trump Tax Cuts set to expire in 2025, including:
- $2,000 Child Tax Credit for nearly 88,000 NY-17 families
- 199A Small Business Deduction for over 78,000 local businesses
- Protection from the Alternative Minimum Tax and increased death tax exemptions for 228 family-owned farms
- Prevents an average tax increase of nearly $4,000 for families earning the district’s median income.
Supporting Education and Workforce Development
- Expands Pell Grants to include workforce training and prevents a funding shortfall.
- Helps rural and farm families by exempting small business value from student aid calculations.
- Allows medical and dental residents to defer loan payments during training.
Westchester’s other Congressman, Rep. George Latimer, called the budget bill America’s Worst Budget Ever. “It includes cuts to SNAP and Medicaid funding that will hurt those who can least afford it and provide tax breaks for those who don’t need them. Also among these tax changes are rollbacks to critical clean energy taxes and credits that were part of the Inflation Reduction Act. These include phasing out clean energy production and investment tax credits and ending long standing home energy efficiency tax credits. If these aren’t bad enough, they have also added provisions to require the accelerated sale of public lands for oil and gas drilling and to rescind funding from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund that protects Americans from pollution and lowers the cost of energy bills. Climate change is real and its happening now. We must act. These were common sense initiatives to move us away from complete reliance on fossil fuels and move toward a clean energy future. Try to spin it anyway you want, Americans will suffer. Our world will continue to burn,” said Latimer on the House floor.
The divide in Westchester between Trump supporters and Trump haters is evident in the divide between Congressman Lawler and Congressman Latimer. Half of the country, and half of our county, support Trump and Lawler, while Half of the country, and half of our county, support Latimer.
Interest groups attacked Lawler for his vote. “Under Pressure from Trump, Congressman Lawler FOLDS!
Rep. Mike Lawler Abandoned His Constituents, Voting For Steep Cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, & SNAP in Order to Pay for Tax Breaks for Billionaires. Ddespite repeated promises that he would not abandon his constituents, Congressman Mike Lawler voted in favor of the GOP’s disastrous reconciliation bill. The controversial legislation, which is set to cut nearly $700 billion from Medicaid, over $250 billion from SNAP, and potentially $500 billion from Medicare, all in order to pay for vast tax breaks for the ultra-rich, now moves to the Senate.
If passed into law, more than 2 million New Yorkers could lose their health coverage or SNAP benefits, including tens of thousands of seniors, veterans, and children in Rep. Lawler’s own district. The New York Congressman recently characterized this as “not a major cut.”
“What Congressman Mike Lawler did today is reprehensible,” said Diane Volz, a retired public school teacher from Peekskill who recently celebrated her 102nd birthday. “Like nearly one-fifth of Americans, I rely on Medicaid for my healthcare—I simply couldn’t survive without it. Now, because of Rep. Lawler’s short-sighted cowardice, millions of us are at risk of losing that coverage, all so that a handful of billionaires can get new, larger tax breaks. These cuts don’t make Medicaid better. They will lead to countless New Yorkers losing access to lifesaving treatment, and people will die because of it.”
A billboard calling out Lawler after the budget vote began to travel around New York. “a mobile billboard truck will drive around Madison Square Garden ahead of Game 2 of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals, highlighting Congressman Mike Lawler’s recent votes to cut Medicaid after months of promising not to do so.
A mobile billboard truck will highlight Congressman Mike Lawler’s recent votes to cut Medicaid after months of promising not to do so. | CREDIT: Empire State Voices.
“Representative Mike Lawler has long claimed to be a moderate voice in Congress, but this week, we watched him fall short and abandon his constituents when it truly mattered,” said Maria Martinez, Executive Director of Empire State Voices. “With his deciding vote on the House reconciliation bill, Rep. Lawler chose to strip life-saving healthcare away from tens of thousands of his own constituents, all so that a handful of billionaires can get a larger tax break. So now, as New Yorkers are out cheering on the Knicks, we’re making sure that they know which team he’s really playing for.”
In total, the legislation cuts over $1 trillion in funding for Medicare, Medicaid, and SNAP, while giving the richest households a multi-trillion-dollar tax break.
In voting for the bill, Rep. Lawler chose to strip healthcare away from over 15 million Americans, including 2 million New Yorkers. In total, the legislation cuts over $1 trillion in funding for Medicare, Medicaid, and SNAP, while giving the richest households a multi-trillion-dollar tax break. The bill threatens to be the largest loss of healthcare and food assistance in American history. Despite this, Rep. Lawler was flippant, claiming that it did not amount to a “major cut.”
Assemblymember Dana Levenburg called the Big Beautiful Bill badly misnamed. “Early this morning, House Republicans passed an enormous piece of legislation that threatens to make life less affordable and more dangerous for nearly everyone in this country, except for a handful of extremely wealthy people. There are so many terrible, shameful provisions in this badly misnamed bill, which is anything but beautiful. It slashes Medicaid and food assistance at a time when our president’s economic policies are raising prices and making a recession and unemployment more likely. It also aims to severely undermine environmental protection, threatening our air, water, soil and ultimately, our health. If signed into law, this legislation would fundamentally shift the relationship between the federal government and our state and local governments, enabling Washington to impose crushing new administrative burdens and expenses on New Yorkers. I will continue to monitor the progress of this legislation as it goes to the Senate, and I encourage everyone to join me in continuing to push our representatives in Congress to change course.”
It is interesting to note that neither Latimer, nor the interest groups addressed the increase in the SALT deduction, which benefits many of the wealthy Westchester democrats who do not support Trump or Lawler.
One fact that has not been discussed in any detail because of the hyper-partisan climate we now live in, is that in 2017 part of the Trump tax cuts, which reduced the SALT deduction to $10,000, it also increased the Standard Deduction from $12,700 to $24,000 for married couples and for single filers, from $6,350 to $12,000. More than 70% of families choose the standard deduction rather than itemized deductions, and if they choose the standard deduction, the SALT deduction doesn’t matter.
For many of the homeowners in Lawler’s district, including this reporter, they take the standard deduction and will continue to do so because their State and Local taxes, including property taxes are less than $24,000 per year.
But for those homeowners in Congressman Latimer’s district in mid-southern Westchester, whose million-dollar homes have property tax bills around $50,000 or more, they want the SALT deduction to be unlimited. Under Trump’s budget, which Lawler voted yes on, they will now be able to deduct $40,000.
There is an income limit on taking the SALT deduction. Your family income cannot exceed $500,000 per year, a threshold that is not close to being met by the vast majority of Westchester residents.
Perhaps another reason why the quadrupling of the SALT deduction has not been discussed by democrats is because the progressive wing of the democratic party, led by Bernie Sanders and Yorktown High School graduate Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, does not support the SALT deduction, or any tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires.
Author and podcaster-journalist Batya Ungar-Sargon argues that Trump’s policies are helping working-class Americans. “Rich democrats in New York are saying I don’t want to sacrifice on behalf of this country, I want more tax cuts. It offends me because we are asking the least of us to sacrifice the most, and when it comes to the wealthy, we are telling them No, no, you get a pass, and we are going to cater to your every need. And of course, it’s their fault that the taxes are so high in New York and these other liberal strongholds…. The perception that the sacrifices are being asked to be made of the least of us, where the people who have the most are being coddled and catered to.”
Next week: Medicaid under the Big Beautiful Bill.
